Ky celebrated her 60th birthday on February 1st. We asked our friend and OCMS colleague, Malkhaz Songulashvili, the Baptist Archbishop of the Republic of Georgia, to lead a ‘life liturgy’ to celebrate Ky’s special day. If you wonder about a ‘Baptist Archbishop’ then you probably didn’t know, like us, that the Baptist churches of Georgia have retained much of the liturgy and cultural traditions of the Eastern Orthodox Church. 
 

After her birthday, Ky had a short visit with her family and Bill spoke in a few of our supporting churches in California and Colorado. He also met with the director of the Human Trafficking Clinic at the Joseph Korbel School of International Studies – University of Denver to explore collaboration with the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies in confronting this growing global pandemic.

Later in the month, we hosted a D. Min cohort from the Northwest Network and Dr. Byron Klaus, president of the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary. While the group was in Oxford, Bill’s book, Child, Church and Compassion: Toward Child Theology in Romania arrived from the publishers. If you are interested in the book see http://www.ocms.ac.uk/regnum/detail.php?book_id=83.

In March, Bill was invited once again to Lusaka, Zambia where he led a National Youth Congress with his friend and fellow Pentecostal leader, Joshua H.K. Banda. Joshua leads a dynamic church in Lusaka and also serves as the Board Chairman of the National AIDS Council of Zambia. His research with OCMS concerns the role of the monogamous Christian Zambian family in prevention of HIV-AIDS.

We recently completed our Spring Research Induction School at OCMS; these induction cohorts are invited to Oxford twice a year. This cohort was an exceptional group of new scholars including a Palestinian attorney who lives in Israel, a Nigerian pastor who lives in London, an American nurse who lives in Cambodia, a Korean teacher who lives in China, and a Finnish church planter who lives in Simi Valley, California. OCMS continues to draw together leaders who personify the mission of the church in the 21st century as a globalized and internationalized work of the Holy Spirit.  We continue to thank God for our engagement and work with these leaders.

Our Easter weekend was marked with a number of special services. Ky helped lead a service at OMCS on Maundy Thursday and on Good Friday Bill carried a cross for an outdoor service in North Oxford.

Prayer Points:

•    Like many, we are experiencing a drop in our monthly income as the financial recession has impacted our budget.  Several supporting churches have mistakenly assumed that we receive a salary from OCMS — we do NOT. We fully rely on giving from friends, family and churches and we are grateful for the faithfulness that allows us to be based in the UK.

•    On March 21st, we spent the day in London at the UK Border Agency in order to renew our ‘Tier 2 Minister of Religion’ visas.  The visa application and interview process cost $2000; at the end of the day we were told that we would be issued Biometric Residence Permits. Bill’s permit was delivered two days later but Ky’s permit never arrived and is now lost in the bureaucracy of the UK BA. Please pray that her visa will find its way out of the labyrinth of immigration services and to our home in the coming weeks.

•    Bill has been dealing with an outbreak of shingles for the last few weeks. Pray that this will pass and that the virus will not reemerge in his body at a future date.  We both have experienced some unsettling medical ailments in recent months. We appreciate your prayers for our health and safety in local and international travel.

We are regularly reminded of your friendship and support.
Thank you,

Bill and Ky Prevette

Last week we enjoyed walking through the cold to attend Handel’s Messiah at the historic Sheldonian Theatre.  This week we’ll take in the classic Dickens play, A Christmas Carol, at the trendy North Wall venue.  Church oriented events have included a family carol service at our “happy-clappy” home church, St. Aldate’s, and a “high church” carol concert at Christ Church Cathedral featuring Jeremy Irons (famous film/theatre star of The Mission) as the reader.  We are fortunate to be part of a very vibrant community of faith here, but we know that for most who live in this intellectual city the Christmas story is ancient history.

One break in our tradition is due to the first time absence of our son, Daniel, from our festivities.  As an adult in the world of work, he didn’t have the days available to join us in England.  Other friends remind us that traditions are broken for them too as not everyone sees Christmas as a cold weather celebration–friends from Zimbabwe are longing for holiday water polo in the backyard pool!  We remember warm Christmas Days in Thailand, Cambodia and Florida and know that every climate has something to offer when Christ is celebrated.

Whatever your traditions and weather might be, we hope that you will keep the coming of Christ central and the love of family and friends dear.  We send you love always,

Bill and Ky Prevette

Oxford, England
December, 2011

Oxford is an internationally recognized university city.  In the autumn, the new academic year begins and students flock back (increasing the town's population by over 20,000!), matriculation gowns grace the more casual scholarly attire (jeans and sweatshirts), and bicycles spill across the pavement from nearly every pub in town.  The pace definitely quickens and the face of the town looks younger and more eager. 

Although we at Oxford Centre for Mission Studies (OCMS) are not tied to the traditional academic semesters, we do hold an autumn Research Induction School (RIS) to welcome new scholars.  And, despite our tendency to draw more mature students, our new arrivals quicken the pace and change the face here, too!  This fall's RIS includes scholars from India, Egypt, Indonesia, Korea, Nigeria, Japan, Singapore, Chile, and America; some of their areas of research include “textual studies in the New Testament”, “cultural identity formation of immigrants who were traumatized in their home countries”, “Nigerian churches in Birmingham, England” and “the use of Western finances in development work in Cambodia”. 

Bill is very involved with the RIS sessions introducing the new scholars to qualitative and practitioner research methods. He continues supervision of several PhD candidates engaged in action research and was recently appointed as the Admissions Tutor at OCMS. Over the last few months, he edited and submitted his doctoral thesis for publication – Church, Child, and Theology in Romania – and wrote two chapters for new books. In his "spare time", he has signed us up to adopt and mentor a few Oxford University undergraduates through the ministry of St Aldates Church. 

During the month of September Bill helped facilitate a theological forum at The 4-14 Global Summit for Children in Singapore.  He then traveled into Cambodia to provide research supervision for two OCMS students and spent two weeks leading seminars in Moldova and Romania.  November holds an invitation to present a plenary paper at a conference in Nairobi, Kenya concerning African children in crisis.  His travels originating out of Oxford have been more global than I would have ever imagined…  So, whatever your images of Oxford and scholarly endeavor might be, I hope this broadens them to include taking Gospel truth into the whole world!

I stay closer to home as far as travels go, but the world still finds me out.  The OCMS Women's Gathering I organized a year ago continues to meet weekly.  It has joined women together from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, Ghana, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Netherlands, Niger, Zimbabwe, Romania, UK and America.  The English spoken amongst us is musical and the prayers are far reaching; I am blessed to be among these women!

For those of you that remember our MK, Daniel, he is now 23 years old, graduated from Southeastern University and is working full-time as a Production Assistant for Warner Brothers Entertainment.  His apartment (shared with four other Hollywood hopefuls) looks across West Los Angeles at the famous Hollywood sign and he crosses the star-studded Hollywood Blvd each day on his commute to work.  With 60 hour work weeks, his life is mostly work, sleep and laundry, but we couldn't be prouder of him.  He is launched into the world of film and movies!

We do hope that you are finding your work, life and family to be blessed of God.  We pray for you; we are grateful for you; we remember you with love.

Always,

Bill and Ky Prevette

In true British fashion, a remark on the weather is always appropriate, so here it is — Britain remains on course for the hottest April since records began – it’s a remarkable contrast to the record breaking cold of the past winter!  The seasonal changes remind us that we have been here a full year now.  We feel happily at home, but a reliable (and cynical) British friend says that in regards to accepting us foreigners, “The first 20 years are the hardest…”  We are enjoying putting him to the test!

Ky and I have just celebrated a wonderful Easter Holy Week in Oxford.  The English celebrate Maundy Thursday with foot washing and the giving of money to the poor.  We participated by attending a very meaningful service at OCMS led by one of our scholars who is the Archbishop of the Baptist Church in the Republic of Georgia (near Southern Russia).  That evening we enjoyed a Passover Meal with a local church congregation.  

On Good Friday, Bill carried the cross for an open-air community service called, Churches Together for North Oxford click here for more.  
 

Our Easter Sunday was celebrated with a number of international friends at St. Aldate’s in the center of Oxford City and we closed the day with a contemplative Taize service.  Christ is Risen, He is Risen, indeed!

The last three months have been both challenging and rewarding.  Thankfully, we continue to experience God’s grace in our lives and ministry. Here are some of the highlights:

• Bill continues to work as both tutor and mentor with OCMS PhD candidates.
  

These men and women are from El Salvador, Columbia, India, Mainland China, Cambodia, Vietnam, Korea, Zambia, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana and Australia. To work intensively with these leaders is especially rewarding  – each is working on critical areas of mission and research.

• We just completed our OCMS March-April Research Induction School where we welcomed 10 new students from China, Zimbabwe, Canada, Korea, Japan, and India. These scholars are beginning a five to six year process of research and will make significant contributions to their home nations and churches.

• In March, Bill was a speaker and participant at a global forum called ‘Now and Next’ held in Nairobi, Kenya.  This theological conference on children brought together 106 leaders of major church organizations as well as key leaders of the ‘4/ 14 Window’ Global Movement, Child Theology Movement, and the Holistic Child Development Global Alliance. The outcomes of conference and all papers can be viewed online at http://www.hcd-alliance.org/nowandnext.
  

•  Ky continues to lead the ‘Women’s Gathering’ every Friday at the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies and meets with individuals regularly to mentor and develop their spiritual lives.  She also gives “background support” where needed whether by providing tax assistance to our son, long-distance bookkeeping for her mother, babysitting a scholar’s child so that the papa can attend lectures and the mama can work, welcoming guests in our home or simply bringing in the groceries and the laundry!  She finds God’s presence in the daily doings… 
  

On May 6^th our son, Daniel, will graduate with a BS in Film Studies and Communication from Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida.  Daniel has excelled in his undergraduate work and overcome several extremely difficult circumstances this past semester. We are proud of his accomplishments and will be celebrating this milestone from the cheering section at his graduation ceremony.  Please be praying for him as he comes to your mind; he has decided to base in Los Angeles following graduation and work in the film industry. 

We pray that your relationships and your work continue to bear fruit in the Kingdom of God.  May you be blessed!

We are deeply grateful for your continued friendship and prayers,

Bill and Ky Prevette

P.S. In our last update, we mentioned our friend, Dr. Julie Ma, who suffered a cerebral aneurysm in mid-December.  It is a testimony to the power of prayer and the mercy of God that Julie is back at her duties as a research tutor at OCMS! She has completely recovered from what the best doctors here in Oxford considered a severely life-threatening incident. Special thanks to all of you who joined with many others around the world on Julie’s behalf!

Greetings from Oxford, on the first day of 2011!  We trust the New Year is beginning well for you. The ending of one year and the beginning of the next reminds us of both past experiences and fresh opportunities.  We anticipate with each of you the joys, surprises and unforeseen challenges of a new year.

We do not think ourselves into new ways of living.  We live ourselves into new ways of thinking.  (Richard Rohr: Everything Belongs)

Here in England, we have just been through the coldest December since 1863 and the second coldest since sometime in the 1600s.  The temperature today is a balmy 41 degrees, but we had snow on the ground for most of the Christmas holiday.

We had a wonderful Christmas; our son, Daniel joined us for the holiday and flew back to the USA yesterday.  He has just finished his last resident semester at Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida and will drive to Los Angeles over the next several days. Daniel will finish his film degree with a semester at the LA Film Studies Center (LAFSC) and plans to work in the film industry following graduation. 

We want to share a friend’s recent crisis, challenge and ongoing prayer request with you.  As you know, Ky and I are ‘on loan’ to the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies (www.ocms.ac.uk) by AGWM. We came at the invitation of the Centre’s directors, Dr. Wonsuk and Dr. Julie Ma. We have known Wonsuk and Julie for many years through our work with AGWM in Asia. Thursday night, December 8th, Julie suffered a ruptured cerebral aneurysm – a very devastating event. She remained unconscious in the Neurology ICU for two weeks.  Her doctors were cautiously optimistic that she would survive, but did not know the degree to which she would recover due to the severity of the hemorrhage.

 The OCMS community and many friends around the world were praying for Julie. Incredibly, a few days before Christmas, Julie began to regain consciousness and recognized her husband and friends who came to visit. Since then, she has been improving slightly each day and is now able to sit up right, move her arms and legs and even speak and smile a bit! We believe that God has shown his mercy and healing grace in this situation. We are continuing to pray that Julie will recover completely in the days to come.

Thanks to each of you for your faithfulness in praying for us over the last year and for remembering our work here at OCMS. We look forward to all that God has in store during the months ahead.

Happy New Year,

Bill and Ky Prevette

Partly because our move to the UK was interrupted by illness and a longer period of transition, Ky found this relocation more difficult than expected.  It was during this time that she was blessed by three women who were well established in Oxford. This befriending reminded her again of the importance of “belonging in relationship” and she launched a weekly gathering for all women associated with OCMS. Grace, the wife of an Ethiopian scholar, made this comment after the first meeting, ‘for the first time since I came to the UK, I felt like I was the old me’. Ky also takes part in the broader OCMS community by leading the prayer time during the Wednesday Chapel and Community Day each week.

September was taken up with the bi-annual Research Induction School at OCMS. Nine new scholars joined our community to begin their PhD studies.  I led a number of sessions on practitioner research and designing field-based study. Faculty at OCMS are assigned as ‘house tutors’ to these scholars as they design proposals that will guide their next 5-6 years of study.  I am currently working with Jebaraj Devasagayam from Calcutta, India who will evaluate the impact of child sponsorship among a group of tribal people in Bihar and Jules Compaore from Burkina Faso who will investigate the implications of spiritual power in Pentecostal churches in Burkina. I also sat as the ‘internal examiner’ for a colleague’s PhD verbal defence in September, a ‘rite of passage’ into British academia I felt honored to undertake.

In early October, we were invited to participate in an international conference on human trafficking in Chisinau, Moldova. This meeting brought together 150 grass roots practitioners from 30 countries in Eastern and Western Europe. We offered a workshop as a couple and I presented a plenary paper concerning holistic mission to women and youth who have suffered violence and abuse. Listening to the stories of pain and recovery told at this conference brought to mind these words from Dietrich Bonheoffer:

We have learned to see the great events of world history from below, from the perspective of the outcast, the suspects, the maltreated, the powerless, the oppressed, the reviled, in short from the perspective of those who suffer. Mere waiting and looking is not Christian behaviour. Christians are called to compassion and action (After Ten Years: Letters to Family 1942).

After Moldova, we spent a week visiting our ‘old home’ in Romania. Ky commented, ‘our recent ministry visit to Bucharest was a wonderful reminder of the life I have been privileged to live—so many people to love, so many memories to share, so many lives touching mine!  Even after three years away, it felt so normal and right to be there again.’ We led a seminar for a group of emerging leaders at Bucharest International Church where he had served as co-pastors, did a workshop for Alege Viata (who work with the over 100,000 university students of the city), offered a lecture at the Institute of Pentecostal Studies, spoke with the ministry staff of Touched Romania, and reconnected with our good friends at Teen Challenge of Romania. These and other contacts resulted in planning at least two more trips to Romania in 2011 with the hope that we will continue to see growth in research, training and ministry there.

As we compose these periodic updates, we are aware that some of our friends and supporters are facing difficulties and challenges in their own lives or ministry. We send this letter as an expression of thanks for your prayers and friendship, and in the hope that our partnership will be an encouragement and reminder of the grace and goodness of God in all of our lives.

In Christ’s love,

Bill and Ky

Our thanks to everyone who has been praying for us so faithfully these last several weeks. Finally, it seems that things are getting a bit more back to ‘normal’!






As we communicated with you in early June, I (Bill) was hospitalized for nine days in Spain beginning May 15th for pancreatitis and we returned to the UK to recover. The last eight weeks have resulted in a roller coaster of health issues for me. Apparently, the pancreatic attack caused a great deal of gastrointestinal inflammation and I developed diverticulitis (our updates are starting to sound like medical journals). After an MRI, a specialist in the UK determined I should have my gall bladder removed and the surgery was performed on July 2. Thanks be to God, this was performed without complications and finally, after another week of recovery, the pain caused by the diverticulitis has started to subside.

This past week is the first since May that I have been relatively pain free. For any of you who have had long-term illnesses, we know you understand that when pain is a constant companion there are lessons to be learned about body, soul and spirit. One of the lessons I had to learn was that patience and rest were essential to recovery.  The photo here was made just a few days ago and we are grateful for the many prayers and concerns you have shared with us over these last weeks. Ky has been a great partner and caregiver during this time; I don’t know if anyone gives out medals for wives that have to put up with cranky, ill husbands, but my wife deserves one.

News from Oxford Centre for Mission Studies

When we were preparing to move to Oxford, we visited many churches, friends and individuals as I sought to communicate a bit of what goes on at the Centre. OCMS has about 120 students currently working towards their PhDs in mission research. Ky and I have been able to make contacts with students and scholars from around the world in our first three months here. My role is to both mentor and tutor these candidates.  OCMS was designed to be a place for men and women who are Christian leaders from the Global South (the Non-Western counties of the world). About one week ago a good friend of ours, Philippe Ouédraogo of Burkina Faso, successfully defended his PhD thesis. Here is his title:

A Comparative and Narrative Investigation into the Contribution of the Assemblies of God Church and Christian NGOs to Overcoming Obstacles to Female Education in Burkina Faso.

You might ask, why is this significant? What does this contribute to Christian mission in the world? Phillippe has been able to show with convincing research and evidence that the churches of Burkina Faso – one of the poorest countries in West Africa–are making a very significant contribution to the education of girls in his country. When I am asked in lectures or conferences, ‘what are the best ways to work to overcome poverty in the world’, I often talk about the importance of shaping the lives of children, but especially girls and young women.

If this sort of topic interests you, Phillippe has given me permission to post an abstract of his research on our website. You can find this on our site www.prevetteresearch.net under ‘Blog Posts’.

Thanks for praying and staying in touch with us.

Bill and Ky

I am asked sometimes ‘what do you do at OCMS’? When I tell people that I mentor or tutor students they may not understand what that means. In this post, I provide a short profile of an OCMS student and an ‘abstract’ of his very important research. This is the kind of people we are working alongside here in Oxford.

In my recent newsletter i mentioned a good friend of ours who recently successfully defended his PhD thesis at OCMS. This means after 5-6 years of hard work, Phillippe has reached the end of a long journey and has made a significant contribution to ‘knowledge’ Phillippe serves as a key leader for the Assemblies of God. he is the Vice President of his denomination and the Assemblies of God in Burkina includes over 4,000 churches.  Philippe is married to Josephine and both live in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso: they have three children Daniel, Muriel and Stephanie.

Ordained minister with Assemblies of God since 1981, they both served God in the Bibles schools in training men and women for the ministry. In 1990 they felt led by God to plant the Boulmiougou AOG church that now have three other daughter churches that gather around 1000 members.

They have registered a Non-Governmental Organisation ‘The Evangelical Association in Support to Development’ (AEAD) to address the integral needs of the population of Burkina Faso.

Here is an abstract from his recent thesis: 

  ‘A Comparative and Narrative Investigation into the Contribution of the Assemblies of God Church and Christian NGOs to Overcoming Obstacles to Female Education in Burkina Faso’
Philippe Ouédraogo

 OCMS, PhD

June 2010

ABSTRACT

 Many obstacles, historical, social, cultural/religious and economic, have hindered, and continue to hinder, the development of female education in Burkina Faso. However, Faith-Based Organisations, especially Evangelical ones like the Assemblies of God, have shown, and are continuing to show, innovative ways to improve girls’ and women’s education in the country.

The aim of the thesis is to examine the place of female education in the context of Burkina Faso. A literature review is used to explain the position of girls and women in BF and to explain the importance of educating girls and women in socio-economic development. Quantitative data from official documentation is used to show from national examination results that the evangelical and Roman Catholic schools are far more successful than the state schools. Qualitative data has been collected through interviews, focus groups and face to face discussions with government and church leaders, and from key figures who have benefited from education, to find out their views on both girls’ education and the role played by the evangelical churches. Using narrative research also allows many people, villagers, pastors’ wives, and government officials, to tell their own stories in their own ways. This adds richness to the data. The evidence from these sources shows in what ways evangelical churches have led, and continue to lead, the development of female education; and reflects on whether their approach points to the future. The thesis also seeks to make a contribution to the debate by investigating what contribution the Evangelical churches in particular the Assemblies of God and Christian NGOs, such as AEAD and ANTBA, ACTS and CREDO, made in overcoming obstacles faced by girls and women in education.

 The new insights brought about by this thesis in a globalized world are twofold: first it seeks from a religious community level to document the history and practices of the Evangelical church communities that have contributed to girls’ and women’s education. Secondly, the thesis puts forth an educational innovation that uses first the mother tongue to bridge the non-formal to formal education with a potential of accelerating higher women’s literacy, thus making some of the MDGs a reality in the near future in Burkina Faso and the Sahel region. The evidences and conclusion from the case studies will hopefully inform policy makers such as governments (UNICEF, DFID, FTI), the churches and NGOs and the civil society at large as a way forward.

 Our son Daniel has written a number of scripts and he has taught me about the elements that contribute to successful stories and films. One of those elements is a major event in the life of a character called a ‘inciting incident’ – ‘a doorway through which the protagonist cannot return’. I now know what people mean when they talk about a near death or traumatic experience where things in life are reduced to ‘what really mattters’.

Ky and I went to Barcelona, Spain on May 11^th for the All Europe Retreat; this was a gathering of all the AG missionaries in Europe for some work and R&R. We had planned to spend an extra couple of days with some friends in Barcelona after the Conference and return to UK on May 19^th.  We enjoyed 2 days of this but in the early morning hours of May 19^th, I began to experience massive chest and abdominal pain. Thinking I was having a heart attack, Ky called for help and took me to the nearest Emergency Room. Within an hour it was determined I was not having a heart attack but ‘Acute Pancreatitis’. If you are like me and don’t know what this means, see: http://www.medic8.com/healthguide/articles/pancreatitis.html.

I knew I had a pancreas but never knew it could start ‘digesting itself’ or hurt this much.  I was immediately admitted to the hospital and told I would be put on an absolute fast from all foods or liquids for the next 4-5 days. This allows the pancreas to ‘calm down’.  Coupled with the incredible pain was the confusion that everything around me was happening in Catalan and Spanish; soon I full of IV tubes and feeling ‘ completely out of control of my situation’. The pain did not really let up for 72 hours and then things slowly started to get better. I had a CT scan on Monday May 24^th; this revealed no masses, no lesions or cysts, but fluid and inflammation throughout my abdomen. I was gradually introduced to food and activity and by the end of the week the doctors agreed to release me on the condition that I get a follow-up CT scan and blood analysis when I returned to the UK.

 On the last night I was in the hospital, I wrote a reflection on my experience after a friend sent my a hymn by Charles Wesley, Jesus Lover of My Soul, which contains these words:

Wilt thou not regard my call?    
  Wilt thou not accept my prayer?    
Lo! I sink, I faint, I fall!    Lo! on thee I cast my care!
Reach me out thy gracious hand
 While I of thy strength receive,
Hoping against hope I stand,  Dying, and behold I live!

If you are interested in reading this reflection, you will find it posted under ‘Newsletters’ on our website — http://prevetteresearch.net/reflections-with-charles-wesley-from-hospital-in-spain-pain

 I felt at the time that I needed to record some of the lessons learned in this crisis, as we have a tendency to forget the how God can use pain to teach us of Himself.

We returned to Oxford the night of Friday May 28^th, tired but very grateful to be home where we understood the language and our local surroundings. The following day, our shipment from the USA arrived and 13 friends showed up to unload it and help us start getting settled into our new home in Oxford. We had been living out of suitcases since February 22^nd. I will be seeing doctors here in Oxford this week for another CT and consultation about ongoing treatment.

Thanks be to God, I am now beginning a new chapter of my life. Moving to the UK and joining OCMS was already a big part of that. I will need to lose at least 30-40 pounds and be very vigilant about my diet. I will need to adopt a new lifestyle – where ‘reflection, soul and body care’ are not just useful words but integral to the way I live.

Charles Wesley was right – living is not to be taken for granted. We rest in Him!

Many thanks for your friendship and prayers.

Bill and Ky

Oxford UK

June 2, 2010

I was hospitalized in Barcelona Spain on May 19th with Acute Pancreatitis. This was probably the most painful experience of my life, certainly the only time as an adult I have been in the hospital for anything other than an injury

During my 9 day hospitalization. a colleague from the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies sent me the words to Charles Wesley’s famous hymn, ‘Jesus Lover of My Soul’. On the last night I was in the hospital I wrote a personal reflection about my time of illness and a few lessons learned. I was particularly struck with the  the 3rd stanza of the hymn.

I don’t know what it was in Charles Wesley’s life that brought him to write this hymn but it does parallel so much my personal  pain and angst. I include the entire hymn here followed by my thoughts from a hospital room in Spain:

Jesus, lover of my soul,    
  Let me to thy bosom fly,    
While the nearer waters roll,    
  While the tempest still is high:    
Hide me, O my Saviour, hide           
  Till the storm of life is past,    
Safe into the haven guide,    
  O, receive my soul at last!    
 
Other refuge have I none,    
  Hangs my helpless soul on thee;           
Leave, ah, leave me not alone,    
  Still support and comfort me:    
All my trust on thee is stayed,    
  All my help from thee I bring;    
Cover my defenceless head 
  With the shadow of thy wing.    
 
Wilt thou not regard my call?    
  Wilt thou not accept my prayer?    
Lo! I sink, I faint, I fall!    
  Lo! on thee I cast my care!
Reach me out thy gracious hand    
  While I of thy strength receive,    
Hoping against hope I stand,    
  Dying, and behold I live!    
 
Plenteous grace with thee is found,    
  Grace to cover all my sin;    
Let the healing streams abound,
  Make and keep me pure within:    
Thou of life the fountain art;    
  Freely let me take of thee,    
Spring thou up within my heart,    
  Rise to all eternity!

A Personal Reflection after 9 days in a Barcelona Hospital, written May, 27th 2010

May 19 – 20
Wilt thou not regard my call?    
  Wilt thou not accept my prayer?

By the first night of my hospital stay it was clear I was in real trouble, with pain like I have not known before. I am usually ok with physical pain if I understand what is going on around me in this case I felt lost and confused.  The nurses spoke no English, the man with whom I was sharing a room had a family member spending the night with him (typical in Spain) and these guys snored so loud it was impossible to sleep. It seems humorous now but I was praying out loud at a pretty high volume – ‘OH God help me – make these guys shut up or heal their adenoids’.  To no avail, I slept 2 hours that night and watched the dawn with something like knives in my abdomen. My two room partners got up and immediately started talking and laughing like they were at a soccer match. (Later I found out they were from Southern Spain and  love large gatherings with lots of noise, the room was full of their family most of the day talking and laughing. If I had known these lyrics I would have sung them ‘wilt you not regard my call – wilt thou not accept my prayer.’
 
May 21-24
Lo! I sink, I faint, I fall!    
  Lo! on thee I cast my care!  

Night two was a repeat of one, by now I understood there is no real treatment for acute pancreatitis (at least here in this hospital) other than shut down all oral intake and ride it out living on pain killers. Usually pain killers just make me have strange dreams and I suppose they dull pain but I feel the pharmaceutical companies have created their own language with ‘pain killers’. The nurses gave me morphine that night to calm me down as I was getting so agitated at the snoring and complete lack of control I had in the situation.  I ‘cast my care on God’ and asked to be moved to another room the next day. What is that cliché about ‘jumping from the frying pan into the fire’? The next three nights were painful but things were starting to feel more like small pieces of glass in my abdomen than knives. But my new room mate redefined the term snoring.  I had fluid in my lungs so I could not make a noise that loud if I had to. As soon as he woke up, he went in our common bathroom and smoked a cigarette and the fumes made me sick.  Funny thing was he was a big likeable guy. We talked a bit – he in Cataluña and me in English, and we got to be buddies. I probably slept 2 hours each night. I had a positive CT scan on Monday and my new buddy was released on Tuesday the day I started showing some real improvement. Just as I was starting to think ‘at last a night where I might sleep a few hours’ the nurses came and  told me they would move me again.  So I just threw up my hands and said oh well, ‘Lo! I sink, I faint, I fall Lo! on thee I cast my care! Whatever you think of God in times like this it is pretty clear we don’t direct the movie. God writes his Story in our lives but this sort of writing is painful.

May25-27
Reach out thy gracious hand    
  While I of thy strength receive,    
Hoping against hope I stand,    
 Dying, and behold I live!   

My new room mate was a younger guy in his 40s in much worse shape than I. Last year he  had colon cancer and part of his colon removed. He is back this time with 10 inch incision up his abdomen because his bowel was twisted and occluded. He made no noise whatsoever at night, other than to occasionally moan in the night. By now I was feeling like I would live and I prayed with deep empathy that God would touch him. ‘Reach out thy gracious hand’ not to me but this brother who needs a touch from you.  His mother slept in a chair next to him. My strength was slowly returning, now I had only to contend with Level 5 pain and diarrhoea and needing to pee every 10 minutes. ‘While of thy strength I receive hoping against hope’ I was beginning to see in my personal trial that this  too shall pass.

Each day got progressively better. I was hooked to about 4 bags of IV, had a sub-clavian catheter for feeding. They took out my wrist IV on Tuesday and the sub-clavian on Wednesday. Now they are monitoring my progress which seems good, I am swollen like a balloon from all the inflammation but I am able to walk and ‘stand’.  On Thursday my doctor said my blood analysis was good and I could be released to travel on Friday.  

This ordeal began on the day we were scheduled to fly back to London. I have asked every day since starting to improve if I can leave at the end of the week. The doctors just tell me that I have a serious condition and it had potential to be fatal. ‘Dying, and behold I live’. I now see these words in a much different perspective. Its true what they say about trauma and near-death experiences, it does get your attention.

I am now beginning a new chapter of my life. Joining OCMS is a part of that. I will continue with care in the UK, hopefully avoiding any surgery, and will need to lose at least 30-40 pounds and be super vigilant about my diet. I will need to adopt a new lifestyle – where reflection, soul and body care are not just pretty words.  

Wesley was right – living is not to be taken for granted. We rest in Him! Thanks be to God for giving us life in both weakness, frailty and recovery.

Bill Prevette